Last year the number of foreign tourists in Ukraine fell by 2 million

The tourism sector is an inalienable part of the world service market. Tourism either directly or indirectly stimulates the development of most other sectors of the economy, including industry, agriculture, construction, transport, trade, etc. Even in our country with its transition economy the way tourism functions directly impacts forty sectors and according to the State Tourism Committee around 10-15% of everybody employed.

It would appear that Ukraine has all the preconditions for joining the most developed tourist venues. With its advantageous geopolitical location, since time immemorial it has been a transportation crossroads for north-south and east-west routes. The country boasts a favorable climate, predominately flat landscape, abundant flora and fauna, and developed transport communications network. Ukraine has a host of cultural and historic monuments (about 150,000), more than 500 towns over 900 years old, and 4500 villages over 3000. More than 3000 resorts and nearly 1500 hotels are at tourists’ disposal. However, according to the State Tourism Committee, last year the inflow of tourists into Ukraine has shrunk by 2 million, a significant drop.

The decrease has been brought about by a number of factors, primarily the worsening general economic situation, which in turn is weakening the interest of potential investors in Ukraine. This brought about a sharp drop in so-called business tourism. The situation has also been aggravated by the financial crisis in Russia. This is a key factor since some 60% of all Ukraine’s foreign tourists are Russian citizens. We also have to give the Russian government’s protectionism concerning tourism, intended to financially support their own resorts, its due causing the influx of Russian tourists to Ukraine in 1999 to shrink by 42.2% compared to 1998.

Still it would be a mistake to blame all our misfortunes on Russia and its financial crisis. One of the major factors is the complexity of the customs procedures on entering Ukraine. The bothersome routine of receiving a visa, crossing the border, and passing the ecological control of vehicles, all amaze and sometimes irritate foreigners.

The level of our service sector is yet another issue. One can only imagine the impressions of a foreign tourist who back home has gotten used to polite treatment and five-spot smiles at every step and, while on vacation in Ukraine, has to fight with the hotel or resort personnel and starve during temporary blackouts (which have reportedly recently occurred in the Crimea). In spite of this the prices of our tourism services remain unbelievably high. The thing is that every dollar a foreigner parts with has a 20% VAT tacked on. This in turn forces tourist firms, agencies, and hotel owners to raise the prices of their services. One more urgent problem for tourism is the lack of any proper advertising of Ukraine’s tourism potential at the state level. In general, very little is known about Ukraine. The existing advertisement material is mainly produced by certain tourist companies. But the government should be interested in popularizing the country. It would be appropriate to mention that Great Britain annually spends г80 million pounds on advertising London, Glasgow, and Wales. Every invested pound yields г27, г4 of which go to state. Now that is direct investment. Thus it is no wonder that the number of visitors to Britain is growing. Until this is understood in Ukraine, its tourism sector is doomed to lag behind.

Alas, tourism is truly a fast buck. Its economic efficacy has been acknowledged long ago all over the world and confirmed by many years of experience. It is because of tourism that many countries — for instance Spain, France, Italy, Tunis, and Egypt — made their breakthroughs in reforming their economies. And for Ukraine tourism is, beyond all doubt, a sector with potential. Unfortunately, historic monuments and picturesque landscapes alone cannot guarantee its effective development.

COMMENTS

Valery TSYBUCH, Deputy Director, State Committee on Tourism, Department Head for Tourism and Resorts:

The first and foremost task is the routine simplification of visa issuance for countries that have no problem concerning illegal migration (the EU countries, USA, Canada, and Japan). We, together with Russia and other CIS states, have to take advantage of the experience of the Schengen Agreement to allow travel to all the CIS countries on only a Ukrainian visa. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the Russian side does not want to cooperate on this issue.

A general impediment to developing tourism is the problem involving Ukrainian tax legislation. This is first of all payment of the VAT, land tax along with hotel and resort duties. No tax mechanism to encourage information, advertising, and investment on the tourism sector has been developed.

Oleksiy ZADOROZHNY, Ukrzovnishtur Corp. Foreign Tourism Department head:

In organizing foreign tourism Ukrainian companies are faced with substantial problems. No matter how banal this might sound, a major problem is the lack of advertising due to lack of funds. If the West has some information about Ukraine it is mainly of negative character: the Lazarenko case, Chornobyl, crime, and corruption. All this is successfully utilized by our foreign competitors to discourage potential tourists from traveling to Ukraine. The next problem which the people wishing to visit Ukraine are faced with is endless bureaucracy at our foreign offices and often exorbitant prices to get visas. This is exacerbated by the fact that for the money the tourists pay in Ukraine visitors are offered a level of service not up to international standards. For instance, there are nine red corridors and one green corridor at Boryspil Airport, and only some hotel employees speak English. And then there is the formality of registration at The Internal Affairs Ministry’s Visa and Registration Administration (OVIR), which are unintelligible to foreigners, when their passports are taken away, and people from democratic countries find this simply unacceptable. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to this by tourists wanting to be rendered service in a proper way and not having to use force to get them. In general, to attract tourists to Ukraine and to change the infrastructure of the tourist sector a program of nationwide development is needed. Only then can we hope for a decent flow of tourists to Ukraine.

Pavlo TOKOVYI, Press Director, Ukrainian State Customs Service:

Laws analogous to our customs code have been adopted in some CIS states. Our bill was highly praised by the experts from the International Customs Organization. Thus, we are adjusting our legislation to European standards. Foreigners face no problems getting through customs. They are more disciplined than our citizens and that is why after the customs documents have been filled out the customs workers have nothing to ask them. All the claims made by tourist companies about tourists being reluctant to visit Ukraine because of the customs problems are pure nonsense. We work according to the red and green corridor system which allows us to speed up the process of serving tourists at airports. The number of red corridors is accounted for by the fact that many of those arriving conceal money, goods, etc. It is advantageous to the Customs Service to have more people come to Ukraine, since they pay customs duties thereby filling budget coffers.

Natalia DOVHAN, student at the International Institute of Linguistics and Law, 19 (a frequent traveler in Ukraine and Europe):

It has always been difficult to leave Ukraine and there is no end to the lines at the Ukrainian border. But it is also getting harder to enter the country. People are kept in line for hours. All suitcases and parcels are checked, leaving no stone unturned.

Crossing the border with Austria, Poland, Hungary, Germany, and any other European state is as easy as visiting a store. Service in European countries is on a higher level. The service personnel in stores and hotels is polite and ready to cater to every client’s needs. It goes without saying that in Ukraine it is quite the opposite, beginning with the rudeness of customs workers and ending with our spit covered sidewalks. To compare it with the European level or draw parallels is utter nonsense.

INCIDENTALLY

According to Ukraine’s State Tourism Committee, people from over 160 countries visit Ukraine. The greatest inflow is from the CIS countries, 78% of the total. The majority from the Far Abroad come from Poland, Slovakia, Germany, and the USA. Last year Ukraine hosted some 6.5 million foreign tourists, yielding profits of UAH 16.5 billion. While in France (with territory and the population approximately the same as Ukraine’s) annual profits in the tourism industry reach $65 billion.

By Mykhailo ZUBAR, The Day